Spirit star Croix Bethune, hurt at baseball game, out for season

An honor at a Washington Nationals game proved costly for standout Washington Spirit midfielder Croix Bethune.

The U.S. national team player was placed on the season-ending injury list on Wednesday after sustaining a torn meniscus away from training last week, the team announced.

Spirit coach Jonatan Giraldez filled in the rest of the story: Bethune was injured while throwing out the ceremonial first pitch at a Nationals game.

Bethune, a 23-year-old rookie, was a member of the gold-medal-winning U.S. women's team at the Paris Olympics this summer.

For the Spirit, she recorded five goals and 10 assists in 17 matches this year. Bethune's 10th assist, in her 12th career game, tied the NWSL single-season record that Tobin Heath set in 2016 with the Portland Thorns.

Bethune was the NWSL Rookie of the Month for March/April, May and June. No player had ever won the award in consecutive months.

Washington selected her with the third pick of the 2024 NWSL Draft out of Georgia, where she was an All-American in 2023 after two seasons with similar accolades at Southern California.

--Field Level Media